Now the dust has started to settle on a truly terrible week for the BBC, what will the long term impact be?
Three things I suggest.
Firstly that the idea that it is ok to chase ratings for their own sake is dead and buried. The BBC's argument that it needs to reach everyone because everyone pays the licence fee is circular. Yes the BBC needs to attract large audiences (we don't want American-style PBS which is very worthy but no one watches), but it is to watch quality programmes and not chasing the lowest common denominator.
Secondly the whole issue of salaries. Jonathan Ross's salary is worth the annual licence fee of 43,000 people, and 50 executives at the BBC are paid more than the Prime Minister. This has got to stop - as David Cameron rightly says in the Sun today. Otherwise we get into football club scenarios where a huge amount of cash goes out of the back door to pay stars just as soon as it has come in through the front door. The BBC has had relatively generous settlements for the licence fee (up 15% in real terms since 1997) but this should not be to fund inflation in star salaries.
Finally on decency and taste I hope it is now established that socially responsible broadcasters should not allow their talent to behave in a way that legitimises unacceptable behaviour. Only two people who heard the Brand/Ross show actually complained, but the 30,000 who did so afterwards were doing so not because they listened but because they cared about the example being set.
The BBC is one of our national crown jewels and there is no reason it cannot continue to be so. Sometimes though it takes a particular incident to focus minds on where change needs to happen, so it is vital that when the dust does finally settle the Corporation learns these lessons and does not return to "business as usual."
